Yes, I’ve had this but I always called it “tinglies”. I get this fuzzy, tingly sensation that starts on the back of my neck, sweeps over my head, and sometimes down my spine into my extremities. I get it from whispers, very light touching (like somebody lightly sliding a finger on my skin – I can’t do it to myself), and unreliably from scenes and statements in movies that “resonate” with me, or art that hits certain triggers.
It’s actually very, very strong in me and has been debilitating sometimes. For instance, for as long as I can remember a hard bristled broom on a hard floor (or most stereotypical “brushing” or “scouring” sounds) triggers it for me, but it triggers it so hard that it makes me seize up and shake a little bit. It’s very unpleasant.
Fascinating. I had no idea that this was a thing. I would get these sorts of sensations from a young age, and I remember trying to explain them to a number of people and no one understanding what I was talking about. I never would have thought of calling it a head orgasm, and I guess that probably is about the closest sensation to it, then again, I don’t really associate either as an inherently pleasant feeling.
It’s also interesting that the article mentions two different types, because I experience both. For me, they’ve always had some sort of vague connection with spirituality or connection with other people. As in, I remember at very young ages contemplating the nature of my own existence and having a fairly intense sensation as a result, though that response has generally faded over time. Externally, it’ll be triggered usually by someone doing something for me, sometimes even simple things, and especially when experiencing emotionally intense music or other forms of art.
I am an introvert, and it never occurred to me to connect those feelings to introversion as I thought it was just either a weird thing about me or something that just doesn’t communicate well, so I had no pattern to go by. It does seem exceedingly weird to me to intentionally trigger them tough.
Wow. This is utterly fascinating, the more so, because while I can think of times I’ve gotten the tingles, especially head tingles, I don’t think it’s the same thing.
I get tingles for one of two reasons - intensely good music, usually classical (think Beethoven’s Ode to Joy) and getting my scalp scritched or massaged. Those will send me into a full body head-to-toe wave of tingles. However, I have a friend with Sensory Integration Disorder. Her brain sometimes has a hard time putting all the input together into a coherent experience, and it usually means that she twitches or jerks when it’s overwhelming. I wonder if this will help her.
Bump. This is the last time I’ll bump this thread. I promise.*
This American Life piece on ASMR! Check out Act Two. Ira Glass in the promo said something like, “So and So’s body tingles whenever she–” and I knew exactly how he was going to end that sentence. I thought to myself, “Holy shit, they’re going to do a story on ASMR!” As the narrated relayed her story – the weird way she’s always liked listening to people to sift through their things, the strange fascination with The Home Shopping Network, the watching makeup tutorials because she liked the sound of the brushes, before finally stumbling upon the ASMR universe on YouTube – made me go, “Me too!” over and over again. I swear she plagiarized my thoughts.
My husband and I were listening to This American Life today and caught the piece on ASMR. We both sat in the car with our mouths open in shock. my husband reports he has experienced this as have I. We are both introverts who can act as extroverts in our jobs (he as a high school teacher, me as a therapist). I recall having this sensation throughout my 37 years. Watching people do things with their hands- making swirls in sand. Lightly running their fingernails over a surface or lightly tapping their fingertips. My husband and I both agree having our hair cut or combed can trigger it. It’s like a tingly, fuzzy feeling…when really intense, it makes me feel kind of slack jawed and zoned out. I had always assumed some wires were just crossed in my head—thought maybe it was similar to synesthesia. It is so great to find this information out…hope some research gets going on what causes this to occur!
Hey all. I am student doing a research for a paper on ASMR and I had a few questions maybe some of you can help me.
Is there any ASMR terminology or lingo/slang?
Alot of the videos I’ve seen have a lot of static or loud room noise. Does that help with the effect of your tingles or is it just because a lot of it is recorded and blasted really high (not professionally recorded)? If you could still hear all of the low sounds of clicks, scratching, lip smaking, etc. just without the static will it have the same effect?
Do people prefer longer videos?
Does gender matter in the videos?
What are things you dont like to see or hear on videos?
Is it a solo experience? Can you feel your tingles with others? (Not sexually of course) Just experience ASMR with others.
I hope this doesn’t offend or make anyone uncomfortable. I just find ASMR to be a unique and amazing phenomena and I want to learn every aspect of it. thank you for any and all help you can give me.
I was about to chime in, and I’ll still do so, but in a way that answers **tmatta’s **questions.
Is there any ASMR terminology or lingo/slang? Not that I’ve ever heard, beyond just trying to name it. Then again, it’s not like I belong to any ASMR communities or go to any ASMR meetups or anything.
Alot of the videos I’ve seen have a lot of static or loud room noise. Does that help with the effect of your tingles or is it just because a lot of it is recorded and blasted really high (not professionally recorded)? If you could still hear all of the low sounds of clicks, scratching, lip smacking, etc. just without the static will it have the same effect? **I guess I’m the weirdo here, because audio stimuli don’t do anything for me at all. For me the triggers are entirely visual. The fifth bullet point from here pretty well nails it for me.
Though the last item, “Haircuts, or other touch from another on head or back” pretty well does it too if I’m in the right mindset. For me, the videos don’t do anything; it has to be more spontaneous and subconscious than what watching a video would involve. The stimulus has to come, pretty much accidentally, from real-life interaction.**
3. Do people prefer longer videos? As I mentioned in the last item, the videos don’t work for me, but the more “trigger,” (as in, duration) the better.
4. Does gender matter in the videos? Again, talking about real life here, not videos, but no gender doesn’t matter from the standpoint of watching someone perform a task. The sensation, while an extremely pleasant rush, is completely non-sexual. (Now, if we’re talking about back rubs and that sort of thing–dude, what the hell?? Quit rubbing my back!)
5. What are things you don’t like to see or hear on videos?** If the task is intentional and the task-doer is conscious about it, then it doesn’t work for me, so I can’t “see” that consciousness and therefore can’t really get anything from the video. As I mentioned, my triggers are visual, not auditory, but if the person’s talking about what he’s doing or there’s other ambient noise going on, that’s fine. As long as there aren’t any loud noises that distract me I’m good.**
6. Is it a solo experience? Can you feel your tingles with others? (Not sexually of course) Just experience ASMR with others. Solo completely. I think if I’m aware that others around me are “sharing” the ASMR experience, it’s just going to weird me out and disrupt my focus.
By the way, I started a thread asking about this a dozen (or more) years ago in General Questions, but I’ll be damned if I can find it. I think it might have gotten wiped out in one of the board outages. This was long before the terms ASMR or AIHO (Attention-Induced Head Orgasm) had been invented.
Just came up with an excellent term to describe why the videos don’t do anything for me. They’re staged. Knowing that it’s staged takes me out of the experience, and ends up annoying me more than anything.
I’ll admit that watching Bob Ross is relaxing and pleasureable to a degree, but I seemed to be totally missing the brain orgasm effect. I have no physical feelings about it at all.
I do sometimes like to work with quiet semi-random noices in the background. Like a violin or guitar practice in the next apartment over. If the musician is already good it it, it makes it much more enjoyable.
Maybe it is just a point of degree. I think I fell farther away from the crazy tree than most of the other posters.
I have ASMR, and recently found out that 2 of my siblings also have it. Bob Ross triggers me, certain kinds of quiet speech, certain kinds of scratching or brushing noises, and occasionally random things. Watching other people do things does not, tapping does not, and male voices (other than Bob Ross) do not. Sometimes just thinking about it triggers me, like it’s doing right now.
The feeling is difficult to describe. If you’ve ever felt a sudden gentle breeze just barely cool enough to make you shiver blow against you bare skin, that’s kinda close. It’s like a little kitten that just crossed a cold linoleum floor walking slowly up and down your spine. But the feeling is all ‘inside’, it’s not really in the skin.
Not that I’ve ever found. No doctor I’ve ever talked to has even heard of it. As far as I know ‘ASMR’ itself is a made up term.
Static, loud noises, and interruptions all end it for me. I avoid those kinds of videos.
Yeah. longer is better. I will often put a few videos/mp3s on repeat on my computer while I’m doing things, it can keep it going for a while.
Like I said above, Bob Ross is the only male voice that triggers me. I prefer female voices.
See above.
I’ve never done it with other people, my brother & sister are the only other people I know who have it, but I don’t see why not. I listen to this stuff at work, and have no problems with other people around.
Nope, no problem. It should be talked about. I read an article a while back that gave a name to what I’ve been experiencing for a long time (I can remember being triggered in grade school listening to the teacher, had no idea what was going on, just knew I liked it). I think it was this one.
I experience this. It’s like fingernails on a chalkboard, only 180 degrees opposite. Where I seem to differ is in the actual sensation. I don’t get any head or neck tingles, just a pleasurable internal feeling like I’m ready to start purring. It’s not subtle at all, though. If you’re not sure whether you’ve experienced this, then you probably haven’t.
Looking around on the web, it seems everybody’s triggers differ, but there is enough overlap that it’s clear everybody is talking about the same thing. With me it’s watching or hearing people doing precise tasks; like drawing, using calculators, applying make-up etc. Chalkboards are great, and of course I’ve seen enough Bob Ross videos that I could probably knock out a fairly decent landscape if I ever cared enough to go buy some paint.
I get nothing from the Youtube videos - whispering, crinkling, touching and roleplaying videos just seem creepy to me, but I share enough of the other triggers that I know the effect is real for those who respond to these things.
Well the straight dope is there are no nerve endings inside our heads and the vibrations or tingles we feel are in the surrounding muscle and bone tissue.
When we get headaches, we are feeling the same things in the outer and inner regions of our brain. That’s why aspirin works so well, as it thins the blood enough allowing the thick blood building pressure easier passage through the brain.
I didn’t know this was a thing until I heard a story on This American Life about it. Iwouldn’t call myself an introvert…shy sometimes but that’s it.
My trigger tends to be people talking in normal tones but very intensely about some subject…a cooler room temperature also helps. It starts at the top of my head and kind of cascades down to the middle of my back and then dissipates.
The youtube role-plays do set off a creeper vibe, but some of them do work for me. Its not too hard to imagine whispering being a good trigger. You’re straining to hear so you are more focused.
I find the best way to describe it as the same feeling as goosebumps but only inside ur head … like ur brain is getting goose bumps loooooove it I’d like to knowbwhy only some people get or experience this utube videos are like a drug to my brain
I also learned about this from This American Life, and I’ve experienced it, or something like it. Since I was a teenager, getting my hair cut puts me into kind of a hyper-sensitive trance state. There’s definitely a tingling sensation that spreads outwards from the top of my head. It feels very good and very relaxing.
It seems like most people who talk about this have sound triggers. I don’t. The videos don’t do anything for me. So perhaps its not the same thing. But it seems related enough that I was captivated by the episode.